Now that the Dutch First Chamber of Parliament (Senate) has agreed (see Friday/Saturday edition), it appears the expansion of Executive- and Island Councils in the Caribbean Netherlands will be in play for the March 17, 2027 elections. The Second Chamber (House of Representatives) had given its approval earlier.
Island Councils are going from nine to 11 members in Bonaire and five to seven in both St. Eustatius and Saba. As for the number of commissioners, it is rising respectively from three to four and two to three each.
At one point Saba objected to the proposal based on population growth and standards for municipalities in the European Netherlands. There was concern in The Bottom over a short preparation time left and financial consequences.
The Dutch government has since made extra means available for the transition. Voters on the so-called BES islands will now be putting more politicians into office than ever.
Whether that’s necessarily a good thing remains to be seen. For one thing, it can lead to increased fragmentation in local politics and some argue that the latter makes governing effectively harder rather than easier.
Since becoming overseas public bodies of the Netherlands per 10-10-10, the three islands have had to deal with other significant changes, including a dualistic system where one may no longer serve on both the Executive- and Island Councils. Not only that, but the thresholds for both required endorsements of new parties and the number of votes needed to earn a –first– residual seat were lowered.
Although less-than-positive impacts of these electoral adjustments in terms of coalition forming have already been felt, if the goal is to enhance democracy and ensure fair representation such moves seem sensible enough. Care must nevertheless be taken that all this does not turn into a mixed blessing, because bigger government usually leads to added bureaucracy and cost.
